Ontario is setting up its long-term-care system to fail because of a lack of funding, says an Ottawa personal support worker who says more people from inside the system need to speak up about what they are seeing.

“Our government does not support long-term care. They may pretend to, but the reality is, they don’t,” said Peter Dunnigan, who now works as a personal support worker visiting patients in their homes.

Dunnigan said that, in his experience, more personal support workers are badly needed. He described the “morning rush,” working on a long-term-care ward as a personal support worker, and the experience of trying to get 16 or more residents ready for the day.

“You can’t provide quality care in the morning rush,” he said. “(PSWs) are stressed out, taking on more responsibilities and falling behind. It makes the environment toxic.”

Dunnigan says the situation is making it difficult for personal support workers and others to provide quality care and to preserve the dignity of patients.

The Canadian Union of Public Employees says Ontario has fewer health-care staff in long-term care homes than the rest of the country. CUPE says Ontario long-term-care homes provide about 3.15 paid hours of care, compared to 3.67 in the rest of the province. CUPE is asking for a minimum of four hours of care per resident.

Dunnigan spoke about his concerns on the same day the Ontario government announced a public inquiry in the long-term care homes system.

The public inquiry will be headed by Ontario Court of Appeal Justice Eileen Gillese, who is to deliver a final report within two years.

The inquiry was launched after former nurse Elizabeth Wettlaufer was convicted of murdering eight seniors in long-term care homes and a private house. She pleaded guilty to attempting to kill four other people.

The inquiry is mandated to look into the “circumstances and systemic issues which may have contributed to the assault and death of residents who were under the care of Elizabeth Wettlaufer.” The inquiry, the province said in a release, “will help to get answers to make sure a tragedy like this never happens again.”

The inquiry will also review the measures in place to ensure that the objectives of the Long-term Care Homes Act are being met and provide recommendations “to improve the safety and well-being of residents.”

There has been growing concern locally about long-term care since the Citizen published a video showing a personal support worker punching an elderly resident of the City of Ottawa-run Garry J. Armstrong long-term care home. The worker pleaded guilty to assault.

The Citizen also recently reported on the story of two former nurses whose visits to their elderly mothers were restricted under the trespassing act after they complained about shoddy practices. In one case, the Ministry of Health set up a new infection control program after hearing the complaints of one of the former nurses.

The province said this week, in response to a question from the Citizen, that, after a failed earlier attempt, it expects to launch a personal support worker registry next year. The province initially established a registry in 2011 but shut it down in 2016 after a review found deficiencies in the way it worked.

Personal support workers, who make up the backbone of the long-term care system, are unregulated, unlike other health professionals. The province says the new registry will ensure rigorous processes to verify their education and ensure that a PSW is suitable to the work being done. It will also include policies for reviewing, suspending or terminating a PSW’s registration.

“Once established and fully operation, the registry will have clear governance focused on protecting patients and the public,” a spokesperson for the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care said.

Dunnigan, who began caring for his mother at home so she wouldn’t have to go into long-term care, said the majority of PSWs are caring and hardworking — but the system often works against them.

“It is not an easy gig to do. We are not in it because we are becoming millionaires. We are there because we want to be there.”

Dunnigan, who has been disciplined in the past for speaking out, said more people should talk about their concerns with the system of caring for the aged.

“If we can’t be honest in our jobs and say what needs to be done without fear, then we have failed.”

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